Kickback...Owwww!

[mackmack]

I accidentally cut a crosscut against the fence and the wood sounded like a gunshot and nailed me in the arm. I am bruised but I will live. I will never do that again.

Now I'm all scared and I am standing **** near perpendiculer to the table when I cut. I was wondering, is kickback possible even when ripping with the fence and crosscutting properly?

The piece I was cutting was too small so the spike things didnt have a chance to work by the way.

Thanks.

[LCHIEN]

I accidentally cut a crosscut against the fence and the wood sounded like a gunshot and nailed me in the arm. I am bruised but I will live. I will never do that again.

Now I'm all scared and I am standing **** near perpendiculer to the table when I cut. I was wondering, is kickback possible even when ripping with the fence and crosscutting properly?

The piece I was cutting was too small so the spike things didnt have a chance to work by the way.

Thanks.

the honest-to-god kickback that goes bang and then flings the piece at you about 100 mph generally occur with the rip fence and pieces between the blade and fence.

The pieces are around 3"-5" on a side and tending towards squareish shaped.

When I have those kind of piece I make sure I have a lot of downward pressure on the piece so that it doesn't lift, jam and get ejected.

[Woodwerker]

Great advice LCHIEN, most of us have one episode of kick back.
Thats when you learn, I was cutting some cedar last night and my neighbor was over, he asked me why I stand off center at the saw. He has yet to experience kick back :-)

[SARGE..g-47]

What exactly did you mean by you were cross-cutting accidentally against the fence? Was it the mitre fence you were using? Hopefully not the rip fence to preform a cross-cut! How close to the blade does your mitre fence extend?

Without details of exactly what happened mack-mack, hard to pin-point what happened. Without those details, a few suggestions. The mitre fence is for cross-cutting. The rip fence is for ripping. IMO, neither should be used in junction with the other for a particular task. I have seen people use a rip fence for a distance stop. I have seen a finger almost severed doing it.

Short peices don't allow much grip on the miter fence. Your mitre fence should extend to with about 1" of the blade for support. If the piece is so short that it doesn't extend the lenght of the miter fence, wouldn't hurt to clamp it with a quick clamp.

If your ripping narrow peices, make a push stick and use it when the rear of the stock gets within one foot of the blade. Caution when you make the shift from hand-feed to the push stick. Don't shift the position of the stock reaching for the push stick. Balance is essential. Don't sit the push stick or anything else on top of the rip fence. Vibration can cause the object to fall and into the blade and become a missle.

Maintain balance.. always be aware of where your hands are and Always Keep the Lane Clear. Never get in the direct path of that blade while it's moving either to the front or rear before that saw-blade until it comes to a complete stop. YOU are the most important piece of safety equipment in your shop!

Careful and always concentrate on what you are doing...

SARGE.. g-47

[drumpriest]

Sarge is right about using both fences at the same time, it's a big no no. If you want to use the rip fence for a stop, you need to put a spacer between the rip fence and your piece that stops well before the front of the blade. A 3/4" spacer, for instance, would require setting the rip fence to 5 3/4" to get a 5" cut. This way you can have it as a stop, but not have any danger of refrencing off of both fences during the actual cut.

[just4funsies]

I second the motion about NOT using both fences at once. Kickback happens when the portion of the workpiece that has already been cut contacts the REAR area of the blade, which lifts the piece off the table, allowing the TOP of the blade to fling it in the direction from which it came. Using the rip fence as a stop will apply lateral friction, allowing the work to get cockeyed, so the blade can grab it. Use the miter fence WITHOUT the rip fence for crosscuts. Use a vertical featherboard on the rip fence when ripping, to keep the work FLAT on the table. The ONLY part of the blade that should touch the work is the forward teeth.

[Ken Weaver]

Glad you're ok Mack - what those guys said is right, the two fence rule. Biggest thing is to stay out of the line of fire. My experience with it is here, might help you some.

[mater]

Great advice LCHIEN, most of us have one episode of kick back.
Thats when you learn, I was cutting some cedar last night and my neighbor was over, he asked me why I stand off center at the saw. He has yet to experience kick back :-)

I have a hole in my sheetrock to remind me.

[uglystick]

RayintheUK has a great explanation of kickback on his webpage.

[Ken Weaver]

RayintheUK has a great explanation of kickback on his webpage.

That is excellent Ray! Should be a sticky in the Getting Started Forum.

[Bruce Cohen]

My first (and probably not last) introduction to kick-back happened right after I set up my table saw (first one ever). I was attempting to cut a beveled hanger for a wall mounted cabinet, that's the trick where you cut a 45 deg. bevel through a piece of stock and attach one piece to the wall and the other to the cabinet, you then ease the cabinet onto the piece on the wall and you've just made a great easy hanger for the cabinet.

Well stupid me, (still stupid, but older) attemped to make the rip with the rip fence on the right side of the blade, nedless to say, the off cut got trapped and was propelled at some ungodly speed backwards out of the entrance of my garage, just missing a 4 day old new car.

Luckily, no damage (except to my pride) to either me or my car occurred.

Boy did I learn my lesson.

P.S. this was before I had a transaction with Mr. Lee and his wonderful Shark Guard and Splitter. Probably would'nt have had the guard on, but the splitter would have probably prevented the launch.

Still alive and kicking, older, but not necessarily smarter

Bruce

[Russianwolf]

I have a hole in my sheetrock to remind me.

That's better than the hole I had in my stomach. And the splinter it left wedged in there.

[cabinetman]

The replies here are right on. If you have to make one or two crosscuts on a narrow piece, you can use your ripfence for measurement, BUT, move it away for the cuts, and use the miter gauge. For multiple cuts for the same type of piece, clamp on a spacer to the ripfence so that it ends well before the blade, and using the miter gauge push the piece to the spacer, and keep pushing past the spacer to the blade with the miter gauge.

For narrow rips using the rip fence, one and at times two push sticks allow for a greater safety cushion than reaching over for the transition of passing through past the blade. Your push sticks should be comfortable to use and allow full controllability, so that your not fumbling with your grip, or allowing the piece to stop once the cutting has started.

A little trick with your miter gauge. I mounted a fence to the miter gauge that when made was cut off by the blade in length in both directions when put in the left and right slots. It's just high enough to use one hand. It offers more support when narrow stock is being crosscut.

To describe the kickback possibility is to create a pocket or contained area where a piece gets lodged. If you feel off balance by concentrating on "where to stand" your mind isn't on what you're doing. If your concentration is on keeping the stock against the fence and flat through the whole cut and allowing the piece being cut to exit the blade completely will minimize problems. Too often the blade and sawcut is being watched, and the stock drifts off the fence, creating a problem. You'll know where the blade is, just don't stick your fingers or hand in it. Not rushing is one of the keys to safety.

Proper methods and experience are great learning tools.



"I'M NEVER WRONG - BUT I'M NOT ALWAYS RIGHT"

[SARGE..g-47]

I went to Ray's site (I didn't know Ray has a site.. hey, I'm a newbie: well.. I was in 1972 anyway) and can say that everyone needs to read it. It's excellent. Even for old hands, it's a good refresher just to remind you not to take the machine for granted after making thousands of successful cuts without a problem.

As the article stated, the front teeth do the cutting in their downward stroke. They force the stock down and if you have the blade covered with a crown gaurd and always know your hand position, aren't as much of a threat. But those "rear rising teeth" are a menace. The stock is cut by the time it reachs just before halfway of front center-line of blade. Those rear "risers" will lift stock. Up.. UP and Away! Having an out of alignment riving knife, not maintaining the same constant pressure on the stock to fence ratio, a rip fence canted in to the rear causing pinch, opening or closing of wild wood past the knife creating pinch can all lead to potential kick-back.

Four years ago, I went to the Euro short fence. I built a e-movable one and added it on top of my BT long fence. Once the stock is completely cut at just before center-line of saw blade, I have open table past that short fence. Not much chance of the already cut stock hitting the rear of the fence causing it to direct back inward to engage those "rear rising teeth". Since I started using the short fence and replaced that monster plastic gaurd on top of my BT with a "crown gaurd", about 18,000 linear feet have pasted thought it without in-cidence.

But..... I am ever mindful that without maintaining balance, un-broken concentration and excuting proper techinque along with constant check of proper saw alingment.... IT COULD!

Have a good day as I gotta get to work.. and KEEP the LANE CLEAR... :>)

SARGE..